Potter's fault
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: All these events, they can be traced back to one person. It is always the same person. Thus, only one conclusion can be drawn. It is all Potter's fault.
1. The Quibbler

**Disclaimer**: I don't own the world of Harry Potter, sadly...

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He walks through the school; alone, as always. He doesn't interact with other students much; this is nothing new. What is new, however, is the fact that other students suddenly stop and stare his way. They eye him suspiciously. They whisper to their friends. Their eyes widen and they look away quickly whenever he catches them. A few first years even go as far as to run away from him in fright.

What nonsense. He is nothing like his father. He has always sworn to be nothing like the obedient slave he has to call 'father'. It is how he was raised, yes. He is supposed to become one of them too, sooner rather than later. He will have to submit to the Dark Lord's power. So will Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle. But he is nothing like them either. Malfoy think it's cool – his duty. Crabbe and Goyle are used to doing as they are told. He just wants to be left alone.

Alone. Away from all the fools that inhabit this castle. But he has to finish his education first, he knows that. He doesn't mind. It might be his education that will save him from becoming a submissive Death Eater. He will be able to escape – oh, if only. Perhaps he will be of no interest to the Dark Lord anyway. He is too independent, too smart. He won't be fooled by lies and promises.

After all, he has always been told that his mother would come back one day. She never came back. She never will come back. He has known this ever since that one fateful night. His parents had left to have dinner with the Malfoys. When they came back, they were fighting. He watched them, huddled in a corner. His father must have been drunk. Either way, she died. That is all that mattered.

He wonders sometimes how his life would have been if she hadn't died. Sadly, he can only ever conclude that it wouldn't have been any better than this. His father could threaten to hurt her in order to make him do what he wanted. As horrible as it might be, he is happy that she died. For her – but for himself as well.

And now, look at him. He cannot even walk to class without students whispering, staring, fleeing around him. It is pathetic. He wants to tell them to suck it up. He wants to say that they are acting just like the idiots they truly are. They try to cover it up, but they cannot. They fear him.

It should make him happy, he reckons. At least he can be sure that they will leave him alone. But they never bothered him before. Why would they suddenly intrude on his life? They fear him like their parents fear his father. But he is nothing like his father. He wants to inform them of this matter, but he doesn't. As soon as he will open his mouth, they will all scurry away, afraid that he will curse them. They are all fools.

Plus, if he will tell them that, he will be admitting, to himself and to everyone else, that he has read the article. He is not as stupid as Malfoy, who goes around shouting at people, hexing them, for assuming such an attitude towards him. It will only get him in trouble. And he just wants to be left alone.

Of course he has read the article. After the scene in the Great Hall, after Umbridge's newest decree, he doesn't know whether there are actually students who haven't read the article yet. It doesn't matter that the Quibbler he read it in was one left by a student – the first student who ran away upon seeing him. He has read the article, and although he cannot say that what it says is untrue, he certainly does not like its publication. He was always that hardly known Slytherin – the one people didn't know the name of, the one nobody cared about. He is well-known now, suddenly, and not in a good way.

It is all Potter's fault.

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**A/N**: What do you think so far? Let me know, please review!


	2. The Squad

Potter. He has always turned everything into a mess. Now he has even gone and got Dumbledore fired. Dumbledore, although incompetent and favouring certain students a bit too much, was much better than Dolores Umbridge with her pink cardigans and her awful mannerisms. Malfoy, of course, isn't as sorry as he is about these happenings.

He is sure that Malfoy was the one who even came up with the idea of the so-called Inquisitorial Squad. He knows he is safe – he is a Slytherin, a Pureblood, an acquaintance of Malfoy's. They will leave him alone. They tried to make him join the team, of course. Each and every Slytherin was asked this same question. Some, like Millicent Bulstrode, were ecstatic when they heard about it. She joined immediately. She must have been very hungry for some power – after all, Half-bloods in Slytherin are completely at the bottom of the food chain. A first year Pureblood is believed over a seventh year Half-blood at all times. Mudbloods simply don't get Sorted into Slytherin.

He watches his House mates strut around the school, taking points left and right. Just because they can. Everything to win the House Cup. He is sure that that is what this is all about. There is no way Gryffindor is allowed win it again. As he walks to dinner one night, he swiftly glances at the four hourglasses. Gryffindor's is almost empty. There is no way Gryffindor can win the House Cup again.

Slytherin is in the lead. Yet sometimes he wishes he wasn't a Slytherin. His father was proud when he was Sorted here, yes. It doesn't happen often that his father is proud. He knows that a Howler might await him for not joining the Squad. He can't care less. His father's pride means nothing to him. Slytherin has so many negative connotations nowadays. And Ravenclaw doesn't actually sound so bad.

But what does it matter? He prefers to be alone, isolated from his peers, whether in Slytherin or Ravenclaw. They're all fools anyway. They still eye him apprehensively in the hallways, but they don't flee anymore. They must have realised that he isn't much of a threat. He could be, though. Oh, he could be. But he is not, and he knows deep down that maybe, maybe he couldn't. He is not like his father, after all.

The Squad isn't for students whose families are faithful to the Ministry. There must be families of Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs – even Gryffindors who are faithful. Yet the Squad consists of just Slytherins. Slytherins, he knows, from families who are not faithful to the Ministry at all. They are from families who benefit from the Ministry's denial. Families who encourage the Minister to think the Dark Lord is dead, even though they know he isn't.

Not all the families are like this, no. Of course not. But they're there. And when his father will hear – from Malfoy's father, most likely – about the Squad, he will want to know why he hasn't joined. Keep up appearances. They will not suspect them. What idiocy. Of course they do. They just don't say it out loud. Being on the Squad will only make him an easier victim for curses and pranks. And he just wants to be left alone.

He sometimes wonders where Zabini stands in all this. He is the odd one out in their dorm. He is not the son of a Death Eater, but is surrounded by them still. Zabini is not a follower, just like him, and will never be a Death Eater. He is sure of that. As far as he is concerned, neither will he. But it all depends on what the Dark Lord wants. Perhaps recruiting Malfoy will be enough for him. Malfoy, who thinks he's a leader, not a follower. How foolish. He seems not to realise that it is in their upbringing to follow, to serve, to obey.

For now, Malfoy can lead. Personally, he doesn't care. This Squad will not remain here for long, he thinks. It's a feeling he has. There are too many people rebelling against it, and against Umbridge's rule as well. Every single student and every single Professor. What is Umbridge thinking? Allowing a few students to rule the school won't make her more popular or skilful.

This Inquisitorial Squad is her newest measure to keep the school under control. She thinks that being the Headmistress allows her to do everything she wants. Truth is, it's not. He knows this. She is only temporarily replacing Dumbledore. This, everyone knows. She only got this chance because of the raid on that idiotic organisation called Dumbledore's Army. He knows better than to accept that it is indeed an army Dumbledore set up. He knows who really did it. Dumbledore just took the blame for his favourite student.

It is all Potter's fault.

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**A/N**: Well, that was the second chapter. What do you think? Let me know, please review!


	3. The Battle

It's all over the Sunday Prophet. The entire paper is filled with different takes on only one event: the Dark Lord has truly returned. He rolls his eyes, reading it at breakfast. Everybody knows this already. Even for the people who did not believe the Quibbler, this should not come as a surprise. Discarding the paper, he looks around the Great Hall. Faces, lots of them. Happy faces, because school is almost over. Concerned faces – understandable. He himself has no idea what will happen now. Angry faces. He blinks.

Malfoy is muttering fiercely to Crabbe and Goyle. Cocking his head slightly, he studies them for a second. He doesn't even have to listen in to know what they are talking about – no, what Malfoy is talking about. He has no idea what he will do this summer, where he will live. Those three, they have a place to stay. He doesn't know whether he wants to stay there as well. He decides that he doesn't.

Later that day, he sees them again. He is standing in the shadows, not necessarily hiding away. Hiding is something cowards do. Perhaps he is a coward; perhaps he is not. He is still undecided. If being a coward can keep the Dark Lord away from him, then so be it. At least he is not as stupid as Malfoy.

He is sure that their parents want them to be friends. He thinks that they were friends once. When they were younger. Their views on the world have changed now, they are no longer the same. There is no way he will join the ranks of the Death Eaters willingly; Malfoy is already preparing himself for this.

That must be why Malfoy thinks it is okay to shout through the Entrance Hall that his father is now in Azkaban. As if that is something one can be proud of. It hardly is, as far as he is concerned. His father has been imprisoned as well, and he'd rather keep it quiet. Not that there is anyone he could talk to anyway. Everybody knows it already. All the names were listed in the Prophet. People are staring at him again. They even have the nerve to laugh.

Of course, they should laugh while they still can. He knows that it won't be long before the Dark Lord will start terrorising Muggles, Mudbloods, and disobeying wizards and witches. Even though he doesn't want anything to do with this – he is nothing like his father, after all – he knows that soon, these people will have nothing to laugh about anymore.

At least the other students aren't taunting and pestering him. He prefers to be left alone. It is who he is. So he sits outside, observing. He doesn't know for how long he sits there, but when students are starting to stand up to go back inside, he hastily walks ahead of them. Dinner will be served soon, he thinks.

What will happen to him now? Most likely, he will go back home. No one at the Ministry will care about a Death Eater's kid. Let them leave him alone. He will leave them alone too. If they want to put him in custody somewhere, they will be in for something, he vows.

Perhaps that would not be such a bad idea though. The Dark Lord would not be able to come for a visit then. He has his suspicions that he will come by the house. How will the Dark Lord get what he wants though? There is nothing he cares about in this world. Will he threaten to hurt his father if he doesn't do as he is told? Fine. That is hardly a threat. He will never become a puppet like his father. He doesn't have anyone else in this world, and he doesn't know what will be worse. Torture and death, or serving a master and still be tortured?

The battle was only the start of this war. It is already a war he doesn't want to get involved in. The problem is, however, that he is involved in it. Because of his father, because of his House, because of his so-called friends. He will find a way out though. He will never become like his father – he will never serve the Dark Lord. At the same time, he will never fight at the other side either. He will remain detached of everything and everyone. He will be left alone, or so he hopes.

Let them laugh, let them flee. As long as they don't try to interact with him too much – or at all, in case of Mudbloods – he will remain polite and quiet and on his own. He doesn't need a posse of people around him to constantly make him feel good about himself. If he himself cannot bring this about, how would others be able to do so? The Dark Lord just hasn't realised that yet, and neither has Malfoy. Speaking of whom, there is but one thing he does agree on with Malfoy.

It is all Potter's fault.

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**A/N**: I'm very sorry this took so long! :( What did you think? Let me know, please review!


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